So, after the latest war between the cities, I kinda had a thought.  

Why don't role-players on the site simply disregard mechanical (in game) killing of their PCs and give their new character the same or similar name as the last one so they can pick up with RP right where they left off?  

Now - to be clear - I'm not talking about "I'm so and so back from the dead" which is fine if that's what you want to do, but I'm just talking about ignoring that the game kill happened altogether.  

Okay I can sense this might upset some folks, but hear me out...

If Wise Guy A marries Godfather B in game... realistically they'd be protected by that person's money, bodyguards etc.  What Godfather's husband/wife wouldn't be protected by their bodyguards and housed in their forts and have access to their money???  Answer:  NONE. 

Yet if, in the story, I write up that I married Godfather B... I get exactly NO BENEFIT.  Why?  The mechanics of the actual click based game do NOT affect the stories.  Or, they do, only to the amount that role-players decide to allow them.  For example:  Promotions, crews going to war, people switching crews and loyalty.  It seems pretty rare that folks get wacked due to the events of story and more often it's a matter of oc dickwaving, people going rogue, or other mechanics related stuff (he shot my bodyguards or ca! ... etc.)

With that in mind, why do we (role-players) allow the fickle events of game to derail good story?  Yes, it sucks to have to start over leveling a new gun and all that jazz, but why also lose out on your story and connections?  Why start from scratch when we don't HAVE to?  Maybe if we didn't then new players who lost characters (and those players who have long periods of time into a character) might not walk off and never return to the game.

I didn't put it in the suggestion area, because honestly it's not a change to how the game is played... but how it's viewed by those of us writing story.  

Role-players... what are your thoughts on this.  The purist among us might say that they WANT the two to be closely tied but sadly mechanics will never be effected by the events of story (for good or ill) so maybe it should go both ways to promote people having more fun.  

Thoughts?

That, in theory is a good idea. However from what I have noticed, people tend to relish a fresh start. The main purpose is to avoid the killing of your bloodlines or being forced into a set group or being discriminated against because of previous associations. 

This is precisely why even the "I'm so and so back from the dead" gimmick , corny though it may be is still incredibly rare.

But that said, people who willingly claim themselves to be sons/daughters of a previous character technically could instead adopt the proposed changes. 

Well, because when a character dies, the character dies. Not sure how pretending it didn't happen and a thug calling themselves the same person as the Don, who just had an open casket funeral, makes sense.

With that in mind, why do we (role-players) allow the fickle events of game to derail good story?

It's just how the game is, and life in general. Death can't he escaped. It has a purpose. To pretend it didn't happen just so someone can extend their story, seems more fickle than accepting what is and starting a new character.

However from what I have noticed, people tend to relish a fresh start.

This too. A new character is a great thing. Once you roll through a few deaths, you find Inspiration in the process. You create something new, and it breaths life into the writing again.

Nothing lasts forever. And although death can suck at various points, especially if someone has written a nice story and has had more ideas brewing, it happens.

In the western world we seem to be afraid of death. We try to be younger in our physicality through plastic surgery, and funerals are a sad fest. In the east, in spiritual communities, it's a doorway. An opportunity. And the spirit lives on after the physical body drops off, just as the OOC player lives on as the IC player hits the finish line.

To blur these lines means IC and OOC wouldn't exist. And to a large degree on here it already doesn't. We need death of characters. Its unnatural and frankenstein otherwise, especially from a role playing perspective.

I think this could only work if you were a lower ranked person, with no real connections. So if I die right now and I come back tomorrow still playing Esther, I could very well pull it off. What would I have lost really?

But when you start to gain and rank and connections, it's impossible. If you're a crewleader and you die, you're no longer a crew leader. So how do you pick up and keep the same story line? Or a hand or a high ranking Don or something along those lines? 

So it's not a horrible idea, but it'd only really work in very specific circumstances.